Phases: Drawing a Star

John just learned how to draw a star.  He is empowered by his discovery.  And stars abound.

Apples

After school, John and I made a pie.

While it is easier to experience the ideal in a picture than to live it, we grabbed about 5 minutes that did actually feel idyllic.  Our formula went like this:

• Catch a beautiful Fall day.
• Find a quiet porch surrounded by trees.
• Don't worry too much about a clean table, or clean people for that matter. 
• Produce a bunch of apples and an old fashioned apple peeler.  (The old-fashioned always seems to up the idyllic factor.)
• Seize on a five-year-old's curiosity for stabbing an apple and turning a crank.
• Hold his attention for say 5-10 minutes tops.
• Get educational with the apple peels.  (If I form almost all the letters by default, maybe he gets something out of it.)
• Add a loyal dog, if possible.

I do have to move fast to keep John's attention and squeeze in these scenes that make me feel so good.  Granted, after 15 minutes of apple peeling, I moved on to assemble the pie, while John made airplane fighting sounds with a pencil. 

But, I somehow have faith that these 5 minutes do get mileage, in the form of connection (to the season and each other), a sense of accomplishment, and a memory.  I know the memory sticks because John's siblings came home and talked for 5 minutes, about their 5 minutes last year, doing the very same thing.

But then again.... maybe it's the pie.  

Police Officer Parenting

Today, my son begged and begged for a thing I just couldn't (and shouldn't and wouldn't) deliver.  We were at a park, and he wanted to find "Poppy," the perfect acorn.  Nothing fit the bill.  I couldn't make it right, nor could a genie in a bottle or a million dollars.  Yet, sitting with an agonized child, sitting with their agony, is not a simple task.

Also today, I begged and begged a police officer to give me a warning rather than a speeding ticket.  The traffic and construction crossing town was unpredictable, and about 1/4 mile from school, I got stopped.  I don't think the officer felt my agony, nor did he feel any agony in giving me the ticket.

I don't want to parent like a police officer.  I don't want to set my kids up to expect rigid people and a rigid world.  I want them to feel room to be creative, with words and deeds.  But, I also want them to go the speed limit, and accept cold consequences when they come, be it a lost acorn or a humiliating fine.